Combination switching and holding brake for railway cars



Aug. 25, 1925.

R. C. M ELREE COMBINATION swncame A D HOLDING BRAKE FOR RAILWAY cAns Filed vDec. :5, 192's -2 sh-eex sshm v 1 INVENTOR.

W-MM V m Aug. 25, 1925 v v 11,550,980 R. C. MgELREE, 1'

COMBINATION SWITCKING AND HOLDING BRAKE FOR RAILVIAY CARS F116;: 1m. 5 ZShets-Shut 2 m'ygzzvron.

D '5 [(21 V I 1 7 AT omv :Patented Aug. 25, 1925. i

UNITED STATES PATENT ore-Ice; "Q

' ROBERT jc. MCELREE, ornALLAs, TEXAS, AssIGNomBY nmscr AND mnsnn ASSIGN- arms, or omronn'm T0 wxLLIA-Mn. JEWELL AND ONE-FOURTH TO 10055 3.

- MYERS, BOTH ,OF DALLAS, 'I'EXAS..

COMBINATION SWITCHING AND HoLniuG BRAKE F01; RA LWAY cans;

Application filed December 3, 1923. Serial No. erase-1.

Tu all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT C.- MGELREE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements-J in Combination Switching and Holding Brakes for Railway Cars, of whi h the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railways, and refers more particularly to improvementsin 'the braking equipment of said railways, the

prime object being o provide a combination switching and holding brake which may be operated from apo'int adjacent the ground, preferably the sill step of the car whereon thebrake is used.

Further objects. are theprovision of a' means whereby the slack taken up by the action of the foot lever when the brakes are applied, will automatically release excess tension of the brakes, remaining after the' foot lever has been released. Also the provision of a brake which may be operated with a greater degree of safety tothe operator, and whichmay be applied in a minimum of time.

The invention does notinterfere in any way with the present air. brake or hand brake equipment, or the action thereof, but if necessary this brake may be used for supplanting the hand brake equipment.

Further objects and features as well as the above, are setforth in'the following detailed description, taken in connection with the drawings attached hereto, and in which Figure 1 represents a plan view of a car with the invention in attachment thereto.

Figure 2 represents a top plan view of a section of the braking mechanism.

Figures 3 and 4 represent detail views of portions, of the brake mechanism.

Figure 5 represents a sectional view of a portion of the hand brake;

, Referring to the drawing, 1 designates the car frame outline, having thereon truck frames 2 with wheels 33.M

A short lateral shaft .9 is situated directly beneath the floor of the carat a spaced distance from the end, and is supported thereon by standards 1, as illustrated'in Figure 4. Upon the end of the shaft extendrectly above the shaft 9 wound.

ing from beneath the car is provided a foot lever 0, which is freely rotatable thereon,

and is provided with a circularhousing 4.

through which the shaft Wextends, liltl'h 111 this housing a ratchet wheel 6 is disposed upon a squared portion of the shaft 9;

dog or-pawl (S -is pivoted at a in the upper portion of the housing at and is situated so asto engage the ratchet- 6 normally, due to a weighted head provided thereon- This dog alsohas an arm extending therefrom, the function of which will be later described. A small projection 33 is provided on the side of thehousing 4*, which acts as V a movement limiting means for the dog 6.

Directly on one side of the'housing 4, also on a squared portion of the shaft 9", is fixed a pinion 8, which may be engaged by a holding pawl"! on the hand lever 7,

pivoted atpoint 1 pulley 9 and around which the chain 10 is It will be understood that the shaft 9' is squared the full lengthlthereof except at polnts where bearingsare'required and b on the side of the car di- It will be observed.

at the point where the shaft is surrounded by the foot; lever housing 4".

In operation, the weigated head 'of the dog (3 holds the same normally in engagement with the teeth oft-he ratchet 6. When the operator mounts the sill step 4 and applies his weight upon the stirrup 5 of the lever '53, the shaft, 9" is thus rotated, causing the chain 10 to be wound about the pulley 9. This movement draws the rod 11 forward, see Figure 1, to actuate the cross rod 12, pivoted at I), thus operating the rods 13 and :27, secured to the forks 1d" and QS'at, ends'of the rods 15 1C and 28. These latter rods are directly attached to the brakin mechanism, which is 1n turn associated with the brake shoes 21.

k a 1,550,980 l V v show rods 20-20 are secured.

show. rods 20 are moved to apply the brakes;

The chains indicated at- 14 and 26 permit the foot brake to be actuated without.af-

fecting the air brake system 25* consisting of piston 25 and levers 22,- 23, 24 and 29. The air brake may also be manipulated without affecting the function of the foot brake.

. Upon depression of the foot lever, the slack in-the chain 10' is reducedsufiiciently to apply the brakes, .which may require the depression of the lever anumber of times before the, chain may becon'ie sufficiently taut. i

"The dog 6*, being in engagement with the "ratchet 6 on the downward pressure of the lever 5, in order thereby to rotate the shaft,

is automatically released at the extreme low position of thelever by the contact of thedog arm with the lateral extension of the arm 31,1which arm is pivoted to the car frame at 32 and extends to a point directly above the stirrup 5 of the lB\B1.5.

Before the release of the dog from the ratchet 6, the hand lever 7 may be drawn forward to engage the pawl 7 with the pinion 8 to preventreverse movement of the shaft 9 until a new purchase may be obtained by the ,dogon the ratchet. How

ever, when the brake is being used for switching purposes, the hand brake is not usually required, as the foot brake will suffice and the brakesar'e not required to be permanently held.

In event the chain 10 is drawn tootightly I around the pulley 9, resulting in excess breaking power, which obviously woulthiu the absence of the lever 31 force the stirrup 5? tightly against the sill step 4, the lever 31 has been provided to afford a means for automatically releasing the excessive presing the'opposite end of the dog out of en-v sure by the contact of the stirrup 5 with the lever 31 at point 31% Due to the pivotal attachmentof the lever 31 to the car body;

when the contact is made against the lever at 31, the lateral extension of the lever ap-.

plies against the arm of the dog, thus rais gagement with the ratchet 6.- allowing the shaft- 9 to reverse, thereby reducing the ten sion of the chain 10. This action of course takes place only when the pawl 7*" is out of engagement with the pinion 8.

It should be understood that the method and arrangement and the forms of the elements may be varied without departing from the spirit; and intent of the invention as i set forth 1n the following clams;

1. A foot actuated brake for freight cars including a shaft mounted on the car body, It

a footlever having a bifurcated end portion freely, mounted on the shaft; a ratchet wheel interposed between the forks of said bifur cated lever; means mounted on the foot lever to automatically engage the ratchetwheel 7 upon depression of the lever to increase the tension on the brakes,- and means to automatically eii'ect release of said engagement A foot actuating brake for freight ca rs including a shaft on the car body, a bifur- 8 cated foot actuated lever freely mounted on i said shaft; a ratchet wheel rigid on said shaft between the forks of said bifurcated" the shaft to release excess tension on the 9 brakes.

3. A device as per claim 2,. in which a pinion is rigidly mounted on the shaft between the bifurcated end of said foot lever and the car body, and a second lever is mounted above theshaft and has a weighted upper extremity in pivotal attachment to,

the car body and also has a holding pawl arranged to engage said pinion to hold the accumulated tension on the brakes when the foot lever is released. r

4. A switching and holding brake for railway cars including a shaft rotatably mount ed on the car body and having flexible connection to the braking mechanism of the car; a foot actuated lever freely monntedon the shaft; means pivoted to the lever adjacent the shaft to normally engage the latter and effect rotation of the shaft upon depression of the lever; means to automatically resum'esfree movement upon the'shaft-.-

5.. In combination with the braking mechanism' of freight cars, a centrally pivoted lateral rod beneath the car and pivoted intermediate its ends to the said braking mechanism; rods pivoted tothe ends of said lateral rod and having chain extensions thereon; a shaft disposed laterally beneath the car body adjacent. the ends thereof and having a pulley rigid therein for engagement with the said chainextensions; a b1fur-.

cated foot actuated lever freely mounted on the shaft, means interposed between the forks of said bifurcated lever to normally engage the lever with the shaft to efiect rotation of the latter when the lever is depressed; means for automatically disengag Z 1,550,980 j a h a ing the lever from the shaft upon depression of the lever, and means pivoted to the car body for holding said shaft from reverse movement when the foot lever is thereby released.

6. In combination with the braking meohanism of a freight car, a lateral rod pivoted centrally .beneath the ear and pivoted interm'ediate its ends to said braking l-l'lechanism a shaft laterally supported beneath the car body having a pulley fixed thereon; means for flexibly connecting the pulley to the extremities ofsa-idlateral pivoted rod; a bifurmovementwhen the foot lever resumes free movement upon the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my, name to thls specification.

ROBERT C. MO REE 

